Back in our day, playing in a sandpit meant gingerly filtering the sand through your fingers in the hope you didn't accidentally unearth an old cat poo, cigarette butt, or a can of Tenant's Super filled with the stale urine of a dozen so-called "party boys".

But hey - where have you been, granddad? Sandpits have gone high-tech - with virtual reality digital nanosand that kids can control through the power of their subconscious alone...

How do kids control sand with their subconscious? They can't. That would be impossible, and if you believed us then we consider you a bit simple (stupid); we just said that to make you click on the 'read more' link.

Ha ha. Sucked in.

But... we weren't lying when we said that sandpits have gone all high tech: using an Xbox Kinect camera, some real clever guys have already created an augmented reality sandbox that reacts in real-time to the height of the sand.

"Whaaa? H-h-how does that work?" you may well stutter in abject terror at the pace of technological progress.

Like this: scoop out a gully and it fills with virtual water. Build a mountain and, y'know, it looks a bit more mountainous. Don't believe us? Look at the latest version of this dark technology right here, right now:

You can find more about the augmented reality sandbox project here, or go here for instructions on how to build your own. That is all. Except...

...That is not all!!!

Sega is also developing an AR sandbox arcade game (or it was before, y'know, recent troubles...). Eederu Sunabatakes the technology to the next level - the level of big fun - by adding pretend insects and the like to the mix. Because who doesn't like sticking their hands in sand, and having hundreds of massive beetles run out?

Look at this madness, and imagine how much more awful it would be if you were playing it while doing drugs: